Brooke USA Honors Horse Heroes This Veterans Day by Helping Today’s Working Equines

Lexington, Ky. – Nov. 10,2017 – While the word veterans typically brings to mind the human sacrifices that have been made, there have also been thousands of animal veterans including horses, mules, and donkeys who served as an integral part of the war effort.

This Veterans Day, Brooke USA is honoring the equine heroes who served, suffered, and died in World War I. Brooke USA’s year-long ‘Horse Heroes’ campaign is now only $82,845 away from reaching their goal of raising $1 million dollars this year for equine welfare programs around the world – just $1 in memory of each of America’s horses and mules who served in WW1.

Brooke was founded by Dorothy Brooke in the 1930s, when she became a firsthand witness to the horrors veteran war horses were experiencing after the war. Approximately one million horses and mules from America alone were sent to support the Allied forces and while many were lost during battle, only 200 of those horses returned home to the United States at the war’s end.

The rest of these equine veterans who had worked tirelessly to support the Allied forces, and deserved a warm homecoming for their efforts, were instead left in the foreign countries where they had served, to be slaughtered or live their lives in hard labor. Dorothy Brooke made it her mission to relieve 5,000 of these Allied war heroes of their suffering by founding the Brooke’s Old War Horse Memorial Hospital in Cairo, Egypt, and through her work these equine veterans received a peaceful end to their misery.

Today, Brooke USA honors those veterans by continuing Dorothy’s legacy. Through donations, Brooke USA is funding programs to improve the welfare of working equines around the world who are still suffering preventable problems such as lameness, exhaustion and dehydration. This year the United States commemorates its World War One Centennial by marking the 100th anniversary of America’s entry into the bloodiest war of the century. As part of the commemoration, the Commission made Brooke USA’s Horse Heroes campaign an official Commemorative Partner in remembering the contribution of America’s horses and mules to the war effort. The goal of ‘Horse Heroes’ is to remember the nearly one million American horses and mules who served alongside their brave soldiers, by raising one million dollars to improve equine welfare around the world. To learn more about Brooke please visit www.BrookeUSA.org or to specifically learn more about the Horse Heroes campaign visit www.HorseHeroes.org.